Airway Inflammation after Bronchial Thermoplasty for Severe Asthma.

Rationale: Bronchial thermoplasty is an alternative treatment for patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma in which the airway smooth muscle is eliminated using radioablation. Although this emerging therapy shows promising outcomes, little is known about its effects on airway inflammation.

Objectives: We examined the presence of bronchoalveolar lavage cytokines and expression of smooth muscle actin in patients with severe asthma before and in the weeks after bronchial thermoplasty.

Bronchial thermoplasty failure in severe persistent asthma: a case report.

Introduction: Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is an emerging therapy for patients with severe persistent asthma who remain poorly controlled despite standard maximal medical therapy. Thermoplasty elicits asthma control over time by applying thermal radiofrequency energy to airways to ablate underlying smooth muscle. While this therapy is suggested to eliminate such smooth muscle permanently, no human studies have examined the possibility of treatment failure.

Isolation of persistent air leaks and placement of intrabronchial valves.

Objectives: Alveolar-pleural fistulas causing persistent air leaks are conditions associated with prolonged hospital courses, high morbidity, and possibly increased mortality. Intrabronchial valves serve as a noninvasive therapeutic option for the closure of alveolar-pleural fistulas.

Methods: The present review describes a brief history of, and indications for, the placement of intrabronchial valves in patients with persistent air leaks.

Airway smooth muscle in the pathophysiology and treatment of asthma.

Airway smooth muscle (ASM) plays an integral part in the pathophysiology of asthma. It is responsible for acute bronchoconstriction, which is potentiated by constrictor hyperresponsiveness, impaired relaxation and length adaptation. ASM also contributes to airway remodeling and inflammation in asthma.

Safety and feasibility of bronchial thermoplasty in asthma patients with very severe fixed airflow obstruction: a case series.

Objective: Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) can provide relief for patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma despite maximal medical therapy. However, it is unclear whether BT is safe in patients with very severe airflow obstruction.

Methods: We performed BT in eight patients with severe asthma as defined by Expert Panel Report 3 (EPR-3) guidelines who were poorly controlled despite step 5 therapy.

Gender dimorphism in differential peripheral blood leukocyte counts in mice using cardiac, tail, foot, and saphenous vein puncture methods.

BACKGROUND: In many animal models that investigate the pathology of various diseases, there is a need to monitor leukocyte counts and differentials. However, various researchers use a range of different techniques in male and female laboratory animals to collect such blood variable information. These studies are then compared to one another without consideration of the possibility that different bleeding sites or techniques as well as gender may produce varying results.